Newsletter for Spring 2008

Editorial

Perhaps the dawn of the golden age for cycling has begun? As you can from this newsletter there are positive actions on the ground with regard to better cycling provision in the district. The Toddler's Cove path has been completed and the Oyster Bay Trail is under construction. More information on these exciting initiatives can be found on our website: http://www.spokeseastkent.org.uk/ I would like to thank Sheila Flynn, Senior Transport Manager and her team at Canterbury City Council, on behalf of Spokes, for all their sterling efforts!

Spokes has long been involved in National Bike Week which takes place this year during June 14^th-22^nd. Spokes and others have organised a number of events (see Rides and Events for details) and we encourage all members to participate. This will help get the message across that cycling is clearly a transport solution and tremendously good for our physical and mental health as well!

Emily Shirley, Editor

Chairman's Ramblings

As most of you already know Spokes was formed in 1994 from an amalgam of local cycling groups and local activists. One of which was the infamous Bridge Irregulars Cycle Club, of which I was a member and one of the founders. As to the other groups please read Sam Webb's article in About Spokes on the web site. I remember the first ever meeting with John Grimshaw at the Friends Meeting House in December 1992. His dream of a national cycle network was mind blowing. I can still see his slide show showing amazing sculptures and mileposts. Some sixteen years later we have 12,000 miles of NCN, well done John. I still find the concept of national cycle routes amazing. I have though, always been a big believer in local routes connecting schools to communities and communities to the work place. In sixteen years there have been huge improvements to our network at national and local level, but we still have a long way to go. At that first meeting with Sustrans I mooted the idea of a proper cycle route, serving the villages to the south of Canterbury. I'm not talking about that old chestnut the Elham Valley Railway line, but one that links Bridge to the schools, hospitals and city centre. Old Spokie Simon Hopkins and myself, cameras in hands took photos and set up an exhibition in the council offices to no avail. Sixteen years later the traffic on the A2050 several times worse, no parent is going to allow their children to use it and most adult cyclists find this narrow stretch of road both intimidating and dangerous. My good friend Dermot Stewart who is already working on this particular project (see Dermot's article in Autumn 2007 newsletter) has contacted the schools and has support from various councillors including Bridge Parish council.

In the next couple of months, after 15 years of campaigning we will see the whole of the Chartham to Canterbury Cycle Route through the planning stage. Toddler's Cove has already been completed and work has also commenced on the Horses and Goats Tunnel. Phase 1 through Reculver Country Park, the Oyster Bay Trail will also have been completed by the time you read this, filling in yet another gap.

Special thanks from all of us must go to Sheila Flynn at Canterbury City Council and Ruth Goudie at Kent Highways for their sterling efforts in getting these new cycle routes on the map.

Let's hope the next large missing link in our local cycle network is the one we started campaigning for all those years ago. But don't worry; we'll also be campaigning just as hard for yours, it's only fair!

Steve Fawke

Tibbs Cycle Store in Canterbury Reports on BMX

Since its conception in the early 70's BMX racing like many sports has seen its ups and downs. This year the 2008 Beijing Olympics will show case this explosive sport to the world.

Closer to home BMX racing will also see a comeback with a new national standard track (now completed) located at Broomfield near Herne Bay. East Kent BMX, the club responsible for 3 years of hard work, has achieved something amazing.

BMX racing at the highest level will again have a place in the south east, also enabling talented club members to hone their skills for the southern and national race series. Tibbs Cycle Store in Canterbury who themselves run and sponsor a successful BMX race team and members of the East Kent BMX Club are eagerly awaiting the 3rd round of the southern region championship coming to the Broomfield track on the 11th May.

For further information on BMX racing checkout www.eastkentbmx.co.uk or www.tibbscyclestore.co.uk

Myths of cycling: No. 1: Real cyclists don't walk up hills

I think that this myth revolves around the definitions of "real cyclist" and "hill". In my opinion, a real cyclist is one who uses their bike as a form of transport. Lycra-clad mountain-bikers on forest tracks, all padded up and muddy, probably don't count as real cyclists. For most of them, cycling is a pass-time that happens to involve a bike.

A real cyclist's bike has lights, mudguards and a pannier rack, because those three things are necessary if one is to use the bike as a form of transport. This type of cyclist probably uses their bike, if not daily, at least several times a week. Their normal route will probably involve a hill. My definition of a hill is something that makes me puff, or get off and walk. When they first start cycling, the real cyclist gets off and walks up their "regular" hill. As their fitness improves, they get further and further up the hill before they get off, but, in some cases, they will never be able to ride all the way up. It is worth pointing out here that it does not require any less energy to climb a hill on foot than it does to cycle up it; Newton's laws apply to cyclists in the same way as the rest of the real world. What is different, when one walks up a hill, is the rate at which that energy is supplied.

So if you have a hill on your regular route, there is no shame in getting off and walking. It is eminently sensible.

Andy McNally

News from Canterbury City Council

Oyster Bay Trail ('OBT')

Works are proceeding well through Reculver Country Park and the Council hopes to complete this within the next couple of weeks, weather pending. There will also be provision of some timber cycle racks and signing for the route.

The Council will soon be turning its attention to the next phase of OBT through Bishopstone Glen and there will be meeting with Kent Highways and Public Rights of Way to discuss this further as this will involve the implementation of the Cycle Tracks Act (1984).

CCC's legal team have been briefed to start preparing the necessary documents to apply for the change to the existing 'no cycling' byelaws which may take up to 18 months to complete.

Chartham to Canterbury cycle route

KCC's planning application had to be withdrawn due to lack of supporting information. Kent Highway Services have recently completed the construction of the cycle path around the edge of Toddler's Cove car park in order to spend money (these works did not require planning consent). This will eventually link up with the rest of the Chartham to Canterbury cycle route (subject to planning consent).

Cycle parking

The Council has provided over 60 new Sheffield stands in Canterbury, Whistable and Herne Bay over the last couple of years. The Council would like to provide more particularly in Canterbury. The Council is interested to know whether the lack of cycle parking in Whitefriars continues to cause frustration, or whether the new racks that were provided under the arch in Rose Lane have resolved this issue. Please inform Spokes Chair Steve Fawke If you have any complaints about the lack of cycle parking in Whitefriars Square and he will take it up with Sheila Flynn.

Designation of a Member Champion for Cycling

Further to a request by Cycling England, Cllr Darren Ellis has been designated as the city council Member Champion for Cycling. The duties of the role include supporting and encouraging the council in its work to ensure that the promotion and encouragement of cycling as a means of transport as well as for leisure plays a central role in the development and implementation of all its policies and strategies. Sheila Flynn hopes to meet up with him in the near future to update him on cycling matters. Cllr Mike Patterson continues to be the Council's Highway Portfolio holder for transportation.

Sheila Flynn, Senior Transport Manager

News from Sustrans

The long awaited missing link under the M20 on National Route 18 was opened by KCC Cabinet member for Transportation and Waste, Keith Ferrin January 29th. This was made possible by the purchase by Sustrans, of river frontage alongside the Stour, to link up with the existing path by Ashford Rugby Club.

A new Ashford town wide cycle route map commissioned by Kent Highway Services was published in the Kent messenger. The map has been developed in support of Ashford's application for Cycling Demonstration Town status. Spokes is a partner in the project and has written in support of Ashford's bid for the above status. If successful, Ashford will receive a considerable sum of money to promote and encourage cycling. Previous successful cycling demonstration towns and cities have included Aylesbury, Brighton & Hove, Darlington, Derby, Exeter, and Lancaster. The map can be downloaded from the Kent pages of the Sustrans website: http://www.sustrans.org.uk/default.asp?sID=1133949216656

A key section of disused railway track on the Old Kent and East Sussex Railway line between St. Michael's and Tenterden was purchased by Sustrans. Planning permission was granted at the end of March with Kent Highway Services providing detailed engineering drawings. We are in discussion with Homewood School, Tenterden, Kent's largest secondary re a potential link into the school from the new path which will take students off a busy section of the A28.

Sustrans was also commissioned by Kent Highway Services to produce a study on the rest of the old line from St Michael's to Biddenden and onto Headcorn mainline station. Thirty three landowners have been identified.

Kent County Council commissioned a series of five Cycle tourism guides. The first three titled - The Weald, Canterbury, and, Coast, Castles and Cliff Tops can be downloaded from the Kent pages on the Sustrans Website.

David Young, Sustrans Regional Co-ordinator South East

News from Spokes

Thanks to Kent County Council, portions of the Crab & Winkle Way have received a fresh surface topping, and some vegetation has been cut back to stop it encroaching upon the route.

The historic Crab & Winkle railway tunnel, which runs beneath the University of Kent, has been awarded Grade II* listing from English Heritage. This affords the tunnel greater protection from development and will help with the ultimate aim of re-opening the tunnel for walking and cycling, thereby removing the hill as a barrier.

David Young, of Sustrans, has been working on a number of new cycle maps in our area. These include Coast, Castles & and Clifftops, which covers Sandwich, Deal, and Dover, through to Folkestone as well as the Cathedral to Coast route along regional cycle routes 16 and 17; a new leaflet for the popular Viking Coastal Trail around Thanet; A leaflet detailing the cycle routes in the Canterbury, Whitstable, and Herne Bay area; a guide to the cycle routes and attractions in The Weald, including Bedgebury Forest, Tenterden, and Appledore and finally the new town cycling map for Ashford mentioned in David's update in this newsletter.

In late March supporters of the historic Bristol & Bath Railway cycle path were pleased to be told that Bristol City Council has shelved their plans for a Guided Bus scheme to share the route. The cycle path is Sustrans's first route, built between 1979 and 1986, and now forms a particularly busy stretch of National Cycle Route 4, boasting 2.4 million trips in 2007. The Save the Railway Path group are wisely cautious. They will endeavour to quell any further schemes which undermine any existing successful sustainable transport route such as NCR4.

Gregory Williams